What It Takes To DJ

Getting Familiar With Your GearToday‘s age of DJing is more convenient for those barely starting off. You have a lot of choices for gear. You have turntables, CDJ’s, and a plethora of controllers ranging from real small to large. No matter what setup you decide to go with, they all pretty much carry the same characteristics in which will help you with all setups. You will always need a mixer in order to mix or switch between songs, this would be needed for your turntables setup or CDJ’s.Your controller comes with a mixer integrated in the controller. All mixers have the same basic functionality, you have the three band EQ, some have more or less than others. You have two or more channel faders in which controls the output of the song on that channel. You have the cross-fade that determines what side of the turntables is playing out either the left or the right. Your mixer/controller may also have built in cue points and some effects. Spend time messing with the effects, cue points, and all the faders functions and this will help you get the gist of any setup you play on.

Mixing is very important in my eyes. This is a very valuable tool for DJ’s to use. This is essentially what a DJ is known for aside of scratching. To blend one song into another seamlessly is a craft that takes practice in order to perfect. Taking phrases of one song and transitioning to another from a specific phrase is what to practice on. This could mean mixing from chorus’ from one song to an intro to another.

Tone Play & Word Play

This is for the more advance DJ’s. Not saying you can’t give it a go, but it comes with time in order to make these routines.

Tone Play is literally taking a tone or tones of a song, this could be a few notes being played by the main synth, horn, or vocals in one song and using your cue points with those tones isolated to create a pattern while pressing those cue points in a certain arrangement to then transition into the next song that has similar tones that you recreate the melody with the first song. This is just another tool that allows you to transition into the next with the added WOW factor.

Word Play is essentially the same thing as tone play. The difference is you take a phrase of one song, just the vocals or this can be a single word said in the first song that you repeat or relate to the second songs phrasing that makes sense. For example: if you take the first song “Get Your Freak On – Missy Elliot” the phrase “Ya’ll can’t stop me now” and repeat this either by a loop or a continuous push of a cue button and bring in the next song “Can’t Stop – Red Hot Chilli Peppers” the phrase where it says “Can’t stop addicted to the shindig” that is considered a word play transition.

Mixing In Key

Here is another useful tool for DJ‘s to know. Mixing in key is a useful tool that allows you to get those seamless mixes. Mixing in key means that you take the first song on channel A of your mixer and mix the song on channel B of your mixer that is either in the same key or a relative key. Basically this means the overall production of the song has melodies and harmonies that are created with specific notes. Certain notes sound better together than others do. If they are not in the same key this can cause clashing of melodies. Most DJ softwares now a days have the key signature labeled on the song for you to reference either by the actual key signature or by Camelot Wheel. Although, this is not a requirement, it is just another useful tool to set you apart from others.